Befriending a Dragon
by AlinoValiant
Summary: After the fall of the Shadow Queen, the red dragoness Hooktail finds herself in total isolation within the safety of her castle. With both of her brothers presumably dead, she can only slumber her boredom and depression away, doomed to an eternity of loneliness. For this reason, one man decides to take matters into his own hands...


**Befriending a Dragon**

There was once a 50 foot female red dragon named Hooktail, who resided in Hooktail Castle and had a strong hatred for crickets; even uttering the word itself was enough to make her gravely ill. It was in that same place where she had been defeated by the heroic plumber Mario and his timid, but equally brave companion Koops, making use of a sound FX badge that created the noise of a cricket. Taking the Diamond Star and Koopley, father of Koops, with them, the great beast was left to suffer in her loss as she slowly, but surely, recovered from her battle wounds and slumbered in the very top chamber of the castle.

Hooktail, having recuperated from this loss, expected a second battle against a certain red plumber should they ever confront each other again, but after he vanquished the Shadow Queen underneath Rogueport, he had no reason to come back to the castle. Eventually realizing that she was all alone without any form of company, the female dragon simply stayed within the safety of her chamber, sleeping the endless boredom away. The people of Petalburg were oblivious to her semi-reincarnation as the huge dragon continued to rest in her castle, seemingly done with her tricks and consumption of other people.

With the assumption that Hooktail survived the battle against Mario, one could only imagine what it had to be like just sitting there with no friends, no interaction or her two brothers Gloomtail and Bonetail. These facts were enough to make her realize that she needed, wanted someone to keep her company...

* * *

There was a twenty-six year old human male by the name of Agon Archibald Peters. He had dark brown eyes, an average build that was proportionate to his short height (5'3), light brown skin and was bald. His appearance could be considered average, neither monstrously ugly or overly handsome, just normal. He took it upon himself to visit the female red dragon in her castle, curious about her fate in the aftermath.

Why would he do something like this? Maybe he felt bad about having to defeat her in the video game Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door or perhaps it was because no one else liked her? There was something about Hooktail that gathered sympathy from him, despite her apparent reputation. To be fair, he couldn't blame most people for their hatred against the fierce dragon that ate people, seeing that at the time, she terrorized the town of Petalburg and was a pet of the Shadow Queen.

After having gotten lost in the astronomical architecture and setting off traps here and there, he was finally inside the vast chamber of Hooktail Castle, looking for a certain 50 foot red dragoness. The interior was almost pitch-black; it didn't help that Agon departed in his journey just before midnight. He looked around and saw the huge openings that served as windows along with the dark navy sky painted in the air. Apart from that, there wasn't anything more spectacular that stood out. It appeared to be just an empty tower with an enormous amount of space large enough to house a dragon.

'_It's so dark in this place,_' thought Agon, cautiously marching around. '_I should have waited until morning before going here._'

The man was equipped with a set of black SWAT armor and an explosive shotgun. While he encountered no resistance throughout the castle, he took precautions in preparing himself for a fight, just in case. There was that small chance Hooktail could still potentially cause trouble...

He kept walking in a slow pace for the next ten minutes before concluding that she wasn't here in this dark chamber. If one was able to examine his face through the penetrating blackness, he could be seen donning a slightly sad expression.

'_A shame, I really wanted to meet her._' said Agon mentally, sitting down on the hard stony ground.

The twenty-six year old man thought about his next course of action: leave the castle or wait until morning? Moments later, he decided to sleep there for the night, aware that traveling during the night was potentially treacherous. He put aside his shotgun and laid down on his right side, trying to curl up in a comfortable position, before succumbing to a peaceful sleep.

* * *

His eyes fluttered open as the vast interior of the tower was greeted by the morning sun. He rubbed his eyes and noticed something different with what he was laying down on. Carefully sitting up, he realized that he somehow ended up on the back of the red dragon herself, Hooktail. Did she put him on her back intentionally, in an attempt of comfort? Where did she come from all of a sudden? He wasn't sure at all.

In addition to her crimson and gold scales and massive size, she also had hair tendrils (not sure), four legs with three toed feet, large wings and a lengthy hooked tail that split into three. It explained the scaley, but nonetheless warm feeling on his armored back after Agon inspected her the best he could in his position. Judging by the rather soft snores coming from such a giant creature, she was asleep.

"Hey, are you awake?" Agon asked curiously.

No response, except for more audible snores.

"Hello?"

Still nothing.

"Hmm... you're Hooktail, aren't you?" he muttered quietly, climbing down from her. "I suppose I'll wait for you to wake up."

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long because the female dragon stirred in her sleep. Several moments later, her eyes opened to see a small human inside her sanctum. At one time, she would have simply eaten him to sate her hunger, attributing to her reputation. Now, she only wanted a friend with her in this cold, lonely existence of hers. Hooktail gazed upon Agon with her emerald eyes as she gave out a small smile.

"And you are...?" she asked.

"Agon Archibald Peters. I'm here to see Hooktail, if she's here." he replied.

She chuckled quietly.

"You're looking at her. I'm Hooktail."

"Ah, so I see. Well, two questions: where did you come from and are you going to eat me or fool me with your lies and deceit?"

A moment of silence was between the two of them while she gave his words of curiosity some consideration.

"For your first question, I was suspended on the ceiling, sleeping. Don't ask about that," she added quickly, anticipating Agon's skeptical look. "because I'm uncertain myself. To your second question, neither. I'm not that kind of dragon anymore, after my defeat against Mario. With the Shadow Queen gone, I'm just here in my chamber, keeping away from everything and everyone else." said Hooktail, her tone becoming downcast at the end.

"How come?" asked Agon, now intrigued about her sudden change.

"Well, let's just say that some time has passed after the events and that I have been alone here for a long time without anyone to talk to. You don't know what it's been like for me, here within the walls of this place in total isolation, nothing to do and no one around for company. I don't even have my brothers around because of that insidious plumber! No one has dared approached me since the fall of my mistress..."

"That's kind of why I'm here actually," Agon broke in. "I wanted to ask you something..."

She stared at him, inquisitive of what his question could be.

"What is it?"

He hesitated for a long time as Hooktail waited patiently.

"I was wondering if you wanted to... you know... be friends? With me? I'll understand if you say no."

The huge female dragon was touched that someone out there wanted to befriend a fearsome beast like her. She didn't bother concealing her warm smile toward the small human.

"Of course, little human. I'd love that very much." she said truthfully, her voice containing bouts of happiness.

"Oh, wow. Really? Are you sure you're not attempting to fool me? Like you tried to do with the 1 000 coins, the rare badge and the offer to smell your feet?" said Agon in a certain degree of astonishment.

"I forgot about those old tricks of mine, but in all seriousness, I **do** mean it. I think I would genuinely like to be friends with you. You're the first to approach me about the possibilities of bonding."

He maintained a surprised face, but nodded eagerly with the realization that Hooktail wasn't going to eat him now.

"Thanks, Hooktail. You are not such a bad dragon after all. I can hardly believe this is actually happening, a relation between dragon and human."

"Indeed, I hope that the two of us will make this peculiar friendship work somehow."

She reached out with a foot and gently wrapped it around Agon, almost in a cradling manner. He returned the favor by hugging her massive three toed foot. Both of them stayed like that for several minutes, desiring to savor the opening affectionate act. It wasn't everyday that someone got to meet and befriend a giant dragon, let alone Hooktail of Paper Mario. He chanced a glance at her, who gazed back equally fond of his presence.

"I guess you don't intend to trick me this time, huh?" said Agon.

"Of course not. I'd prefer to start things off correctly. Besides, you aren't that red plumber Mario, so you're good." answered Hooktail, just the slightest bit affronted by the idea of lying to him.

"A fine response from a fair being such as yourself. Why don't we go outside and get some fresh air or something?"

"Great! I haven't seen the light for an undetermined amount of time. It will be nice to spread my wings once more," she said as her voice took on a rallying tone after the suggestion. "Just climb on my back and try not to fall."

He did that, mounting her after securing his explosive shotgun. Agon wasn't entirely sure on how the dragoness was going to get out, but he received his answer when Hooktail literally rammed through a good portion of the chamber, evident by the incoming debris. There was a gaping hole visible among the openings, as the human was able to see.

Clinging tightly onto the scales of her neck, he and Hooktail set off for the skies into the bright blue horizon, with a warm climate and a cloudless atmosphere accompanying the duo. Today was a good day for gliding through the open breeze.

**(I typed this up because I felt really bad for Hooktail. All she needed was a friend... Of course, this is purely with the assumption that she somehow survived the fight against Mario in the video game. This takes place after the events of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.)**


End file.
